Since tensions between the U.S. and China erupted this month over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island, two U.S. Navy vessels have made their maiden crossing of the Taiwan Strait, CNN reports.
The guided-missile cruisers U.S.S. Antietam and U.S.S. Chancellorsville were traveling on Sunday “through waters where high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in line with international law,” according to a statement from the U.S. 7th Fleet in Japan.
It stated that the transit was “ongoing” and that “no interference from foreign military troops” has occurred thus far.
Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese military said it was keeping an eye on the two ships, keeping a high alert, and was “prepared to foil any provocation.”
The Taiwan Strait is a 110-mile (180-kilometer) long body of water separating Taiwan’s democratically self-governed island from China’s mainland.
Despite never having had authority over the island, Beijing asserts its sovereignty over Taiwan and views the Taiwan Strait as a part of its “internal seas,” but according to the U.S. Navy, the majority of “the strait is in international waters.”
Beijing responded angrily to such transits.
Following Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this month, Beijing increased military exercises in the strait and the airspace above the island.
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